If you ask fans of Rick Ross to list their favorite verses from the Maybach Music Group leader, most of them will mention his guest appearance on Kanye West’s “Devil In A New Dress.” The track, which appears on West’s 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was a standout on the album and it’s one that arrived months after Ross dropped one of his best albums, Teflon Don. During a recent appearance on LeBron James and Uninterrupted’s The Shop, which also featured Gunna, Las Vegas Aces player A’ja Wilson, and United Master CEO Steve Stoute, Ross was asked about that verse and how it came together, and his answer is one you might not expect.
“Soon as I heard to beat, I wrote a verse right there,” Ross said. “The verse you heard ain’t what it was [in the end]. I wrote two to three verses right then just to let Kanye hear the vibe and I was like ‘This my verse right here. This the verse I want.’ He listened to it, walked off, came back an hour later like, ‘Rozay I know you…’”
Ross continued, “This the first time somebody ever said Rozay, ‘I know you, you could go harder.’ Woah… Rozay ain’t used to that. This feeling like confusion.” Ross added that it was a shock to essentially hear that his verse wasn’t good enough for the song. “He comes back like, ‘Rozay, you know I know you. This verse right here you could –‘ and I looked at him [like] what? I could what?” The comment seemed to light a fire under Ross. “Don’t even finish that,” he says he told Kanye. “Just chill, come back and holla at me. He closed the room, I said this n**** crazy, and I went back in immediately.”
Ross says the moment is proof that Kanye is a great producer. “Without a doubt, he’s most definitely gonna challenge you,” he said. “To me, to be great and make sure that everybody that’s in the room with you [is] great, you have to make sure that you challenge and not just accept.”
You can watch the full episode of The Shop in the video above.
Gunna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
